Human motor skill learning: the interaction between individual differences in brain function, experience and development

大脑功能的个体差异已被证明与个体执行复杂任务的能力差异有关，比如学习弹钢琴。大脑组织和运动技能的个体差异可以通过多种方式联系起来。首先，大脑中存在的或先天的差异可能有助于学习能力。第二，特定的训练可以改变大脑组织。第三，发育对大脑结构和功能的影响至关重要。最后，也是非常重要的一点，这些因素可以相互作用，就像音乐训练的例子一样，童年时期的练习可以导致成年后大脑组织和表现的长期变化。我研究的总体目标是研究大脑组织、发育和特定训练中预先存在的差异之间的相互作用。这一目标分为四组研究：预先存在的大脑功能差异预测表现；2)长期音乐训练的影响；3)运动学习的发展变化；4)长期培训与发展的互动。拟议的研究使用行为和功能神经影像学研究来衡量任务表现和大脑功能之间的关系，并评估短期和长期训练的影响。我们用音乐家作为模型来研究长期运动训练的效果。研究音乐家是有利的，因为他们的训练需要密集的感觉运动技能练习，训练的类型和持续时间可以量化。此外，我们可以通过比较接受和未接受音乐训练的儿童的运动表现来评估训练和发展的相互作用。也许最有趣的是，我们可以利用人们开始训练的童年时期来评估发展与长期行为和大脑可塑性之间的相互作用。

Individual differences in brain function have been shown to be related to individual differences in the ability to perform complex tasks, such as learning to play the piano. Individual differences in brain organization and motor skill can be related in a number of ways. First, pre-existing or innate differences in the brain may contribute to the ability to learn. Second, specific training can change brain organization. Third, development critically shapes brain structure and function. Finally, and very importantly, these factors can interact, as in the case of musical training, where practice during childhood can result in long-term changes in adult brain organization and performance. The overall goal of my research is to examine the interaction between pre-existing differences in brain organization, development and specific training. This goal is broken down into four sets of studies addressing: pre-existing differences in brain function that predict performance; 2) the impact of long-term musical training; 3) developmental changes in motor learning; and 4) the interaction of long-term training and development. The proposed research uses behavioral and functional neuroimaging studies to measure the relationship between task performance and brain function, and to assess the impact of short-term and long-term training. We use musicians as a model to study the effects of long-term motor training. Studying musicians is advantageous because their training entails intensive practice of sensorimotor skills, and the type and duration of training can be quantified. In addition, we can assess the interaction of training and development by comparing motor performance in children with and without musical training. And, perhaps most interestingly, we can use the time in childhood when people began training to assess the interaction of development with long-term behavioral and brain plasticity.